


She-Ra and the Queens of Power

by JeckParadox



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Catra (She-Ra) Redemption, Cute Kids, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kid Fic, Scars, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23317519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeckParadox/pseuds/JeckParadox
Summary: When the portal opened, all of space and time started coming undone, the past and present bleeding into each other. In all the chaos, a split-second decision changes the course of history in a very literal way. Rather than Angella sacrificing herself to put everything back in its proper place in the present, Adora is instead flung back in time twelve years, to the height of the previous Princess Alliance, permanently trapped in the form of She-Ra.With no way back to her proper time and place, Adora decides to try and make the best of things, and prevent the tragedies of the future. The first step?Rescuing a six-year old Catra, and herself, from the Horde.(Diverges at the end of Season 3 Episode 5 "Remember")
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Entrapta (She-Ra), Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 36
Kudos: 306
Collections: Interesting Stories, Shera





	1. Chapter 1

"And then what did you do?" Adora asked.

"Well, I scratched her." Catra said, proud.

"That was mean."

"No it wasn't! She started it, so-" she trailed off as the lights began to flash red above them, and alarms began to blare. "What is that?" 

"The intruder alarm, idiot. We did drills on it." Lonnie said from the bunk over.

"I'm not an idiot, you're an idiot." Catra snapped. 

"Stop it, both of you." Adora said, standing up, before glaring at Lonnie, "And Catra's not an idiot. The alarm's ringing, so we should go back to our bunks."

"You don't want to see who it is?" Catra asked mischeviously, "It's probably a Princess." 

"Princesses can't get this deep into the Fright Zone." Kyle said, nervously, "Right?"

"Well, if they can't, why do we have an intruder alarm at all?" Catra said, grinning down at him, "She's going to come in here, and eat all of us!" 

"Princesses don't eat people, Catra." Adora said, "Stop scaring Kyle. They're evil because they promote chaos and violently resist Horde control. Not because they're cannibals." 

"It's not cannibalism if it's a Princess eating a non-Princess." Catra added. Adora sighed. 

"Can we go to our bunks now? It's probably a drill anyway, and anyone who doesn't do it will get punished." she said this last bit louder than the rest, so that all the kids in the room could hear it. Soon, they began to filter in towards their bunks, until only the stragglers were left. That was when things started getting scary. 

Soldiers rushed into the room, weapons held freely and at the ready. "Get to the bunks!" one shouted. More than that, robots began to follow them, and once about a dozen were in the room with them, they closed the door, locking it in place. 

Further slams represented the sound of more bulkheads closing further down the hall.

It wasn't a drill, Adora realized. She grabbed Catra's hand, and dragged her into their bunks, "Everyone, into your bunks!" she shouted again, "It's not a drill! The soldiers will protect us!" 

She didn't let go of Catra until they were close to their own bed, before running over to the other side of the room, the door to their locker room. 

"Adora!" Catra hissed, "Where are you-" Adora rushed back into the room, holding a broom in her hand. She rushed past her own bunk, and pressed the button for the bulkhead between the training room and the bunks to close. Then, she stood by the metal door, holding onto the broomstick with determination. 

"Adora, come here!" Catra called again, before climbing out of the bed and running up to her. 

"Go back to the bunk." Adora said. 

"What are you going to do if a Princess does come in here?" Catra said quietly, "We're _six!"_

"She won't be expecting a fight." Adora said, narrowing her eyes in focus. 

"She'll have already fought through a thousand bots and soldiers and- people more dangerous than us!" 

"I..." Adora didn't finish that thought, as there was suddenly sounds coming from the other side of the door. Grunts of pain. Laser blasts. Screams. Stun-batons crackling to life. The sound of something big, armored, and mechanical getting crumpled. 

The Princess was on the other side. 

She began to shake, her tiny fists closing around the broomstick so tightly her fingers began to turn white. "Catra... go to the bunk. You're gonna get hurt." 

"This isn't Shadow Weaver. She'll hurt you _too._ You don't have to worry about just me." Catra said, although she was shaking too, "Together. We- we have more of a chance together." she looked back to the rest of the room, "Maybe if all of us-" but the rest of the children were looking at them with fear, or awe, or were ignoring them to press their faces into their mattresses and ignore their incoming doom.

The room opposite went quiet. 

"Did they win?" Adora asked hopefully. 

There was a chime, and the door began to rise. Someone that the scanners recognized, then. That was good. 

But as the metal wall rose up into the ceiling, revealing the scene of a battle. Wrecked bots, unconscious or worse soldiers, dents in the walls and the floors, scorch marks... and in front of the door itself, holding the body of an unconscious Horde soldier, was the intruder. 

The children in the room went utterly silent. It was like everything they had been taught, come to life. Larger than life, taller than even Lord Hordak himself, wearing a bright, shining outfit. She had long flowing feminine hair. Glowing with an ethereal force, a radiance that couldn't be mistaken for anything but magic, even with their only experience of it being Shadow Weaver's brand. In fact, the feeling she emanated felt almost like an inverse of Shadow Weaver's. Where she was darkness, this was blinding, overpowering, awe-inspiring, _light._

She was beautiful. 

She was terrifying. 

She wreaked chaos.

She wore a crown.

She was magical. 

She was a _Princess._

Her eyes shot downwards, taking in Adora and Catra, and neither took a step back, despite the monster's blue-eyed attention landing squarely on them. 

She fell, then, dropping down to one knee, and stared at the two of them with an expression neither could place. Not happy, not angry, but... conflicted. 

She reached out, and Adora reacted on instinct, swinging the broom into the Princess's face, eliciting an "Oof." 

That broke the spell, and soon the room was in chaos, all the other children shrieking in fear, and Adora beginning to go absolutely hogwild with the broom stick, smacking it against the princess as fast and as hard as she could, as Catra leaped from behind Adora to scratch at the intruder. 

"Hey! Stop that- ow! Stop it! Both of you, just-" the Princess complained.

"Its working!" Adora shouted.

"Kill her!" Catra agreed.

"That's enough of that." the Princess's arms shot out, dropping the horde soldier she had been carrying. Catching Adora with one of her massive hands, and reaching behind her with the other to grab Catra. Finding themselves captured, the two began to shriek and panic along with all the other kids. "Hey! Hey, stop crying, please stop crying, and listen to me, I'm trying to save all of you! Look, just, come on, and-" 

She walked towards the bunks, and children began to fling themselves away from the beds, fleeing from her en masse. 

"Please, don't run! I can't carry all of you! Please!" the Princess said, "I'm not scary- okay, that's a lie, I'm obviously pretty scary, but-" she was at a loss for words. She moved a little closer, and spotted Lonnie. As her attention fell on her, Lonnie screamed out, and ran for the locker room. Other children began to stampede after her.

The Princess stared at the children with an even more intense conflicted expression, and then sighed, held Catra and Adora closer to herself, and said something utterly terrifying. "I'll have to come back for the rest of them later." 

Then, she began to carry the two of them away. "No! No!" Adora shouted, "Put us down! Catra!" 

"Adora! Let us down, you can eat someone _else!"_ she then bit down into the Princess's arm, and to her surprise, successfully drawing blood, but the Princess didn't comment on it, or make her stop, simply hurrying back the way she came. 

They passed through rooms and tunnels, the two children struggling, shouting, and crying out for help all the while. 

"You two wouldn't happen to know where Scorpia is staying, do you? She never was with the other kids." 

"I'm not helping you!" Adora screamed in defiance. 

"I guess you wouldn't know, if I don't know." the Princess muttered, before turning in another direction and heading for the vehicle bays. 

Then, they encountered more soldiers, "Wait! Don't shoot!" the Princess shouted to them, "I have, uh, hostages! Shadow Weaver's favorite kids." 

That had the soldiers pausing, even as the Princess stomped past them.

"Help us!" Adora shouted. 

"Help!" Catra added in.

"I'm a horrible person." the Princess muttered under her breath, looking miserable.

"Yeah! You are!" Adora agreed. Which, for some reason, improved the Princess's mood enough to make her grin.

They got to the vehicle bay, and the Princess simply leaped up to the deck of the nearest vehicle, tossed Adora from one arm to the other, squishing her against Catra as she held both kids in one arm. The other, she used to expertly handle the control mechanism of the skiff, and pilot it out and away from the Fright Zone. 

They crossed the desert quickly, and approached the Whispering Woods. Both kids had long since stopped blubbering, although they were no less terrified, but the sight of the massive forest up close was enough to elicit gasps of surprise. Especially the way the Princess sent the skiff heading straight in with barely any hesitation at all. Soon, the Fright Zone wasn't able to be seen at all behind them. 

It was the first time in the life of either child that they could look outside and not see steel towers. 

The Princess eventually slowed down the vehicle, until they were drifting forwards at an almost sedate pace. "Okay... this should be far enough, I think." she bent down, and set down the two kids, before kneeling on one knee in front of them. 

"Are you going to eat us?" Catra asked, fearfully. Adora wrapped her arms around her friend, pulling her close. 

"No." the Princess said, "I'm not going to eat you." she sighed, "I was rescuing you." 

"We didn't need rescuing, we were home!" Adora protested.

"You... really weren't." the Princess said, looking wistful, "I'm going to take you both somewhere you can be safe. And... well, you'll realize in time. The Horde is evil."

"It's not!" Adora shouted. 

Catra didn't say anything, but continued to glare up at the Princess. 

"Like I said, you'll realize eventually." she said, "Now... what are your names, both of you?"

"I'm not telling." Catra said. 

"Yeah."

"Fine. My name is... She-Ra." the Princess said, after a moment's deliberation, "And if you don't say anything, I'm just going to make up names for you." 

The children glared up at her defiantly.

"Fine." she points at Catra, "Your name is Adora," she points at Adora, "and your new name is Catra." 

"It's the other way around!" Adora says, annoyed. 

"Well, now I know." the Princess said, before standing up again and taking control of the skiff. She eyed the forest around them, before taking it in a new direction. 

"Where are you taking us?" Adora asked, moving close to the edge to watch the grassy ground underneath them pass by.

"To Bright Moon." Adora said, "There are people there, who'll help us. You. Help you." 

"Are you the Princess of Bright Moon?" Catra asked.

"No." she said, smiling softly, "I'm the Princess of something else." 

"What?"

"I'm not sure. Grayskull, probably." 

"You don't even know?" Catra asked. 

"Nope." 

"Huh."


	2. Chapter 2

The two of them sat at the back of the skiff, staring at their captor.

"Should we jump off?" Catra whispered, glancing at the side of the skiff. They were going a lot slower now. And if they were close to a tree, she could probably jump onto it.

"How would we get back?" Adora asked, looking out into the distance, "We've turned so many times now. We would get lost."

 _"She's_ probably lost." Catra accused, loud enough for the Princess to hear.

"I'm not lost! Things just... look a little different than they did the last time I was here." She-Ra explained.

"How long ago was it?" Adora asked, concerned.

"Uh, twelve years." She-Ra said, "I think."

"Plants grow and stuff." Catra said wisely, "It probably does look different."

"Yeah." She-Ra agreed, "...Don't worry, even if we do get lost, I know how to survive here. We'll be fine."

Adora gripped Catra's hand a little tighter, all the same. "She'll want to stop when it gets dark." Adora whispered, "When that happens..."

"What?" Catra asked.

"I don't know." Adora said, "We don't have any weapons. And we really are lost." she leaned back against the metal, "I think... we have to wait for Shadow Weaver to come rescue us."

Catra blinked, "What? Do you think she'll do that?"

Adora nodded, "She has magic. Remember? She'll be able to find us, and she'll fight the Princess, and bring us back home. She will."

"...Yeah. Only a matter of time." Catra agreed, "But..."

Adora looked up at her, "But?"

"It's nothing." she said, "Maybe we should rest."

"Why?"

"When its dark, she'll be tired." Catra said, eyeing She-Ra's back, "But I'll still be able to see. Maybe we can get away from the Princess, and find somewhere to stay until Shadow Weaver comes back."

"But what if something happens while we're asleep now?" Adora asked.

"We'll take turns."

"Okay. I'll go first. You sleep. You'll need to be more awake than me later, anyway, since you'll be doing the seeing." Adora patted her legs, and Catra flopped over on top of them, closing her eyes, "I'll wake you up if something happens."

"Wake me up in an hour."

Adora frowned, looking around, "There aren't any clocks."

"Then... in a little while."

"Okay."

As Catra closed her eyes, Adora's gaze went back to the Princess's back. She wasn't looking at them, facing ahead, towards the forest.

It was... it was safe, for now.

She considered what they would do when they stopped, and plotted.

She-Ra, still pretending not to listen, gave a small, sad, sigh.

* * *

"Adora." She-Ra said quietly, jostling her slightly, waking up the small girl. She blinked up at the Princess, confused, before looking down into her lap and seeing Catra still sleeping peacefully. She fell asleep on watch!

"We're going to have company soon. It shouldn't be dangerous, but Catra might want to be awake for this." she continued whispering, before smiling at her and standing up, going back to the whipstaff, and urging the ship forward again slowly.

"Catra!" Adora hissed, shaking Catra, who suddenly jerked up, looking in every direction.

"Wuzza?"

"Something's happening."

"S'not dark yet."

"I know, but something's happening."

Catra shook herself, and looked back towards the Princess, who was staring out into the woods, concentrating.

"What?" she asked.

"I don't know." Adora answered, "But the Princess is on edge."

"Is it Shadow Weaver?" Catra asked.

"I don't think so."

"Horde skiff! You are trespassing on land controlled by the Great Rebellion!" came a shout from the trees, broadcast to be louder than it should.

"I'm not with the Horde!" She-Ra shouted, "I am She-Ra! Princess of Power!"

There was silence from the forest for several long seconds.

"I don't think 'Power' is a real country." the broadcast voice announced.

She-Ra sighed, "It- I'm not the Princess of a country called 'power', I just- never mind. I'm a Princess, obviously. Tiara, magic." she gestured to herself, "I don't have a kingdom, but I'd still like to join the Princess Alliance. If Queen Angella will have me."

The forest around them seemed to move, and several people wearing a combination of armor and white flowing robes stride out of the forest, a woman with dark skin and blue hair leading the group.

"Net-" She-Ra began quietly, before stopping herself.

"I am Netossa, Princess of Skullpath! Member of the Princess Alliance." the woman in the front greeted, "How did you get your hands on a Horde ship?"

"Stole it." She-Ra answered simply.

"Leave it here." Netossa said, "It's not far to Bright Moon. The forest is good at growing over Horde litter at this point anyway."

"What if I plan on using it in the future?"

Netossa shrugged, "I don't know if Queen Angella will like having Horde tech in the city, but I guess you can ask her yourself." she gestured back the way they came, and the vehicle slowly drifted after the group. After a few seconds of walking, Netossa glanced up at the skiff, before jumping up and climbing on. "I haven't seen one of these up close, either." she looks at She-Ra, "Was it hard to steal?"

"Not really." She-Ra said, grinning, "It's not like they keep them locked up, most of the time."

Netossa nodded, before noticing Adora and Catra, who were watching her silently, "Uh, what's up with the kids?"

"...I think I'll want to explain that to Queen Angella." She-Ra said.

"She kidnapped us!" Adora shouted.

"She used us as hostages." Catra adds.

Netossa blinked, before staring at She-Ra.

"Uh." She-Ra tried for a smile, "That is _technically_ true, but-"

* * *

She-Ra was glaring at them.

Somehow, that made everything worth it. Sure, they were still being led towards Bright Moon, and the nightmarish Queen of the Princess Alliance, but at least now their kidnapper was trapped in a magic glowing net, being dragged behind the second Princess they met.

They walked alongside the guards, none of whom seemed to be considering the possibility of them escaping, their weapons held loosely and away from the children. 

Adora caught Catra's attention, and gestured to the woods to their right.

Catra gave a small nod.

"Don't." She-Ra announced, spooking both of them.

"Don't _what?"_ Netossa snapped back at her prisoner. She-Ra was heavy, and Netossa was starting to get annoyed.

"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to _them._ They're about to do something dangerous, and-"

"NOW!" Adora shouted, she and Catra grabbed each other's hands, and took off running in a straight line for the woods.

They tripped the one guard in their way, slipping under her, and running for the underbrush. They shoved past a bush, slipped under a gigantic root, and pushed onwards into the woods.

"Come back!" one of the guards shouted.

"Kids!" another screamed.

"It's dangerous out there!"

Adora and Catra didn't slow down until they came to a massive tree, and started climbing.

The guards began to try following them, but their robes were catching on every tiny thing, and they were barely making even a little progress into the woods.They hopped from their current tree, to another, and then crossed the canopy to yet another, using branches too small to support an adult as bridges.

The two of them didn't stop until they could stop hearing the shouting of the guards, and both children were exhausted, lying across branches and trying to catch their breath.

"We escaped." Catra said, grinning, "We escaped _two_ princesses! And the soldiers of Bright Moon!"

"We're awesome." Adora agreed, "Now..." she considered their options, "We should head back for the skiff."

"We don't know how to fly one."

"Princesses don't have technology. They're all savages." Adora said wisely, "But _she_ could pilot one. That must mean its really easy."

"Oh! Yeah, you're right."

Their logic flawless, the two of them got up, climbed back down to the forest floor, and looked all around them.

"Which way is the skiff?" Catra asked.

"I... don't know." Adora said, sighing.

"Hm."


End file.
